DEVELOPING: The Boston Marathon headquarters has been locked down after two explosions were reported near the finish line, a spokesman told Reuters.
Witnesses reportedly heard two booms near the finish line inside the Fairmount Copley Plaza Hotel that sounded like two claps of thunder.
The Associated Press says there are reports of injuries.

Live feed in link._________________"Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys." - P. J. O'Rourke

too early for the RoP tag. Could have been some explosive runner diarrhoe (yeah, I know... still, at this point even an ACCIDENT can not be ruled out)._________________Study finds stunning lack of racial, gender, and economic diversity among middle-class white males

too early for the RoP tag. Could have been some explosive runner diarrhoe (yeah, I know... still, at this point even an ACCIDENT can not be ruled out).

I think after seeing the TV coverage we can rule out accidents, agree on the RoP tag though could very well be a David Koresh or Tim McVeigh fanboy since the Anniversary of both Waco and the Oklahoma bombing are on friday.

too early for the RoP tag. Could have been some explosive runner diarrhoe (yeah, I know... still, at this point even an ACCIDENT can not be ruled out).

I think after seeing the TV coverage we can rule out accidents, agree on the RoP tag though could very well be a David Koresh or Tim McVeigh fanboy since the Anniversary of both Waco and the Oklahoma bombing are on friday.

I haven't seen any 'coverage'. But I am sure that there were a lot of pressurized gas tanks. You don't have to do much wrong to blow something up.

edit: ok, saw it on youtube.

Still stand by my 'might be an accident' assertion.

Of course, they will make it a terrorist attack, no matter what it was in the first place... to good a chance to clamp down on some civic liberties they forgot to take away in the past._________________Study finds stunning lack of racial, gender, and economic diversity among middle-class white males

too early for the RoP tag. Could have been some explosive runner diarrhoe (yeah, I know... still, at this point even an ACCIDENT can not be ruled out).

I think after seeing the TV coverage we can rule out accidents, agree on the RoP tag though could very well be a David Koresh or Tim McVeigh fanboy since the Anniversary of both Waco and the Oklahoma bombing are on friday.

I seriously doubt it was an accident, given the number and type of injuries being reported (which suggest a shrapnel-producing explosive device) and the reports that additional explosive devices were found. I also think it's very unlikely that it was some kind of anarchist group; those kinds of folks attack government targets._________________History teaches us that men and nations behave wisely once they have exhausted all other alternatives. -- Abba Eban

(Reuters) - North Korea made new threats of military action on Monday as the reclusive nation celebrated the anniversary of its founder's birth, stoking tension on the peninsula with a new "ultimatum" to South Korea in the stand-off over its nuclear program.

_________________"Freedom incurs responsibility; that is why so many men fear it." - George Bernard Shaw

too early for the RoP tag. Could have been some explosive runner diarrhoe (yeah, I know... still, at this point even an ACCIDENT can not be ruled out).

I think after seeing the TV coverage we can rule out accidents, agree on the RoP tag though could very well be a David Koresh or Tim McVeigh fanboy since the Anniversary of both Waco and the Oklahoma bombing are on friday.

I seriously doubt it was an accident, given the number and type of injuries being reported (which suggest a shrapnel-producing explosive device) and the reports that additional explosive devices were found. I also think it's very unlikely that it was some kind of anarchist group; those kinds of folks attack government targets.

I agree with you on both points, I was just trying to point out that blaming Islamists was a bit premature. Again, not ruling it out, just waiting for the facts to come in.

too early for the RoP tag. Could have been some explosive runner diarrhoe (yeah, I know... still, at this point even an ACCIDENT can not be ruled out).

I think after seeing the TV coverage we can rule out accidents, agree on the RoP tag though could very well be a David Koresh or Tim McVeigh fanboy since the Anniversary of both Waco and the Oklahoma bombing are on friday.

I seriously doubt it was an accident, given the number and type of injuries being reported (which suggest a shrapnel-producing explosive device) and the reports that additional explosive devices were found. I also think it's very unlikely that it was some kind of anarchist group; those kinds of folks attack government targets.

an exploding pressurized gas tank DOES produce lots of shrapnels. So does a bursting steam boiler, btw._________________Study finds stunning lack of racial, gender, and economic diversity among middle-class white males

Two gas tanks or boilers, in separate locations, both blowing up about a minute apart? It's obvious from the footage of the first explosion that it occurred on the sdiewalk. You can see even from a helicopter that the residue and blood spatter originate at a point outdoors in the open, on the sidewalk. In my opinion, they were something like a backpack bomb.

The proximity of the two explosions, both in distance and time, suggests to me that it may have been carried out by a single individual, using something simple like a time-fuse. He probably pulled a one-minute fuse, dropped his backpack, walked to the second location, did the same, and vanished.

...

My wildly speculative bet: homegrown Islamic terrorist. One or a couple of guys working alone. Probably engingeering students from a Boston university.[/quote]
Okay, shrapnel has been reported, specifically ball bearings. Also, the two explosions happened closer together than I thought. So I upgrade my assessment of the sophistication slightly. To happen that close together, they were probably detonated by RF or cell phone. I stick with the idea that somebody just set something like a backpack on the ground; having seen the footage several times now, it's visibly apparent that the blast occurred right at ground level. Most of the wounds were to peoples legs also.

The explosion itself was relatively fast-burning, but you can see some continued combustion going on the rising cloud. That suggests a not entirely clean mixture of explosives.

So we've got IEDs of internet-level sophistication using at least some material that's not easy to get hold of, employed in an effectively coordinated, probably remote-control manner, although the simultaneous detonation is not optimal for maximum effect or consistent with battlefield use of IEDs. To me this suggests smart amateurs, probably a small group.

I'm sticking with a wild-ass guess of Islamic college students from Boston._________________History teaches us that men and nations behave wisely once they have exhausted all other alternatives. -- Abba Eban

Last edited by Bones McCracker on Mon Apr 15, 2013 10:59 pm; edited 1 time in total

too early for the RoP tag. Could have been some explosive runner diarrhoe (yeah, I know... still, at this point even an ACCIDENT can not be ruled out).

I think after seeing the TV coverage we can rule out accidents, agree on the RoP tag though could very well be a David Koresh or Tim McVeigh fanboy since the Anniversary of both Waco and the Oklahoma bombing are on friday.

too early for the RoP tag. Could have been some explosive runner diarrhoe (yeah, I know... still, at this point even an ACCIDENT can not be ruled out).

I think after seeing the TV coverage we can rule out accidents, agree on the RoP tag though could very well be a David Koresh or Tim McVeigh fanboy since the Anniversary of both Waco and the Oklahoma bombing are on friday.

If it looks like a muzzie attack, smells like a muzzie attack, and walks like a muzzie attack... it's a safe bet that it's a muzzie attack._________________"Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys." - P. J. O'Rourke

If it looks like a muzzie attack, smells like a muzzie attack, and walks like a muzzie attack... it's a safe bet that it's a muzzie attack.

Again, I'm not saying it wasn't. I'm just saying we should wait until we know for sure before we start pointing a finger at somebody.
Bias is never a good thing when performing criminal investigations.

If it looks like a muzzie attack, smells like a muzzie attack, and walks like a muzzie attack... it's a safe bet that it's a muzzie attack.

Again, I'm not saying it wasn't. I'm just saying we should wait until we know for sure before we start pointing a finger at somebody.
Bias is never a good thing when performing criminal investigations.

Like when Gabby Giffords was shot, the Lame Stream press immediately started speculating if it was a Tea Party member or a *gasp* Rush Limbaugh listener._________________Irony is asking government to fix the problems it caused

Like when Gabby Giffords was shot, the Lame Stream press immediately started speculating if it was a Tea Party member or a *gasp* Rush Limbaugh listener.

Yeah, because Tea Bagging Right-Wing Extremists can't stand anybody celebrating Patriot's Day, and have it in for randomly selected average Americans. _________________History teaches us that men and nations behave wisely once they have exhausted all other alternatives. -- Abba Eban